Product Description

With the composer's consent, the manuscript was smuggled out of Soviet Russia - but Shostakovich, fearing reprisals, stipulated that the book should not appear until after his death. Ever since its publication in 1979 it has been the subject of controversy, some suggesting that Volkov invented parts of it, but most affirming that it revealed a profoundly ambivalent Shostakovich which the world had never seen before - his life at once triumphant and tragic. Either way, it remains indispensable to an understanding of Shostakovich's life and work. Testimony is intense and fiercely ironic, both plain-spoken and outspoken.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #180754 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Review
"'I do not know of a musician who will not read it with compassion and admiration' Andre Previn"

About the Author
Solomon Volkov is a musicologist and the author, most recently, of St. Petersburg: A Cultural History.

Customer Reviews

Educational on many levels
As a recent convert to the wonders of 20th century composers, I have an incredible hunger for knowledge about my new idols and their lives. This book, though heavy going at times, was extremely educational.

When I read it I knew nothing about the doubts of its authenticity.

If it is genuine, then it is a unique insight into the mind, the influences, the struggles and the friendships of Shostakovich that adds depth and context to his music. I found his opinions on his contemporaries particularly fascinating. It also works as a social history of 20th Century Russia and an examination of the position of an individual within the state. The personal conflict of patriotism versus desire for free expression, survival versus artistic integrity, popularity versus honesty, though more blantantly illustrated in Stalin's Russia, is something that touches all of our lives to a degree.

If it is a fake, then we can assume nothing about the personal views of Shostakovich. However, it is obviously written by someone with facts and insight on their side. The social and musical historic value remains, as do the critiques of other composers of the time.

Either way, it is an education.

Utterly gripping and a revelation
I know there has been much controversy over this book, but I found it superb.

The two major things I gained from it were an insight into the man and his personality, and more precious, an understanding of how the regime under which he lived shaped him and his music.

Leading one to wonder what he would have written under a more liberal regime?

It's also well-written and I found it impossible to put down

Thoroughly recommended.

Testimony is authentic and accurate
From 1992 to 1998, Dmitry Feofanov and I thoroughly researched the authenticity and accuracy of Testimony, including conducting interviews with Solomon Volkov, Maxim and Galina Shostakovich, and many others. In a forthcoming book, Shostakovich Reconsidered (Toccata Press, 1998), we reveal how opponents of the Shostakovich memoirs have failed to report all of the facts, have taken things out of proper context, and, above all, have remained curiously silent on the wealth of information that corroborates Testimony. (Allan B. Ho)